


The Modhri, the Human and the Missing Blanket

by misura



Category: Quadrail Series - Timothy Zahn
Genre: Fade to Black, Huddling For Warmth, Other, POV First Person, Sharing Body Heat, Timeline What Timeline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-02
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-09-03 14:43:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8717917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: Trapped in an icy cave with his (fomer?) worst enemy: just another day on the job for Frank Compton.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jaclynhyde](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaclynhyde/gifts).



> this July, I finally snagged a copy of _Judgment at Proteus_ and devoured it within days, meaning that after three years of waffling, I finally didn't have an excuse anymore NOT to tell you: thank you for pimping these books. they're fabulous fun and they deserve all the fic.
> 
> here's a very trope-y treat for you - I hope you'll like it!

_Always winter, never Christmas._ Not quite the thing to lure in the tourists, probably, but as I was looking at the landscape surrounding me, it seemed much more appropriate than the rather generic _Planet for snowy fun and enjoyable snow sports_ , which in addition to being somewhat lacking in originality also sounded like perhaps the people in charge might have needed to look a bit closer at the credentials of whatever agency they had hired to appeal to the human public.

On the other hand, at least they were upfront about the snow.

"I don't understand."

From what I'd seen so far, there might be one or two things the people in charge were a lot less upfront about. Things that were a lot less harmless than snow, my current circumstances notwithstanding.

Or perhaps that should be: _our_ current circumstances notwithstanding.

"Sorry, what?" Stuck in a cave with a Modhri walker was not my idea of 'snowy fun', nor could I quite imagine it ever catching on as a 'snow sport'.

" 'Always winter, never Christmas.' "

I'd have gone cold (well, colder) but apparently, my body was already as cold as it could get. Still, I felt a hint of icy fingers sliding down my back.

Had I actually, without noticing, voiced my thought out loud? Or, and this was the truly disturbing option, had there been no need for me to do so, because I had unwittingly picked up an unwanted guest and the Modhri was thus able to read my mind?

Of course, the latter option made his question somewhat of a dead give-away, and at little profit to him that I could see. The Modhri was far too clever to make such a mistake - unless he counted on me making that assumption, in which case he had asked the question to lull any suspicions I might have.

"Compton? Are you all right?" To his credit, the Modhri almost sounded honestly concerned.

Probably, it helped that we were in the same boat. "I'm fine." I wouldn't be in a couple of hours, but hopefully, Fayr would have found us by then. In spite (or maybe because) of the recent advertising campaign, the hotel had not exactly been overflowing with human tourists. It should be relatively simple to retrace my movements - at least inside the hotel.

Outside of it, things might get a bit tricky.

"Human bodies are not well-suited to these temperatures." The walker was a Bellido, which meant he'd been able to blend in well. He also had fur. Not enough to not be bothered by the cold, but enough to be able to hold out a good few hours longer than me.

"Tell me something I don't know."

"I'm at a loss how to proceed." The Modhri seemed a bit embarrassed. "Staying here will do neither of us any good, but leaving is likely to end in both our deaths as well."

"Fayr will find us." The Modhri was not in any real danger. This mind segment was, though, so I was willing to let that 'our' go, even if I felt that I had a lot more to lose than the Modhri.

"Your body requires heat now."

I saw little use in denying the obvious. "Unless you've got a blanket hidden away somewhere, there's not much I can do about that," I pointed out instead, without much hope. A weapon, yes, Bellidos being Bellidos, but I was not holding my breath for a surprise blanket.

"My own body still generates a certain amount of heat." The Modhri sounded like he felt he was navigating some deep and mysterious waters here. I supposed that from his point of view, he was.

"Are you offering to share?" I asked, feeling like an actor in a B dit rec.

True, traditionally, one of us should have been an attractive female character, rather than an alien entity with whom close contact was likely to result in becoming an unwilling host to a polyp colony.

"Yes. It seems logical," the Modhri added hesitantly.

I was willing to believe the Modhri had not engineered this situation. I was also willing to believe that his desire to keep me alive was genuine. For the moment, our goals were the same, after all.

But was I willing to trust the Modhri not to take advantage of a perfect opportunity to infect me?

"We are allies," the Modhri said, once more acting as if he could read my thoughts.

Once, as they say, might be coincidence. Twice, chance. "For now."

"You would prefer to die rather than trust me?"

"Trust you how?" I parried. "You've just offered to share body-heat." And even if he gave me his word, would I be able to trust him? Could I afford to, given what might happen if I got it wrong?

The Modhri sighed. "I promise not to turn you into one of my walkers. There. Will that do?"

Too easy. I also noted that the Modhri hadn't qualified his promise with a period of time. Not 'I promise not to turn you into one of my walkers for the next two days'. "Not ever?"

"Yes. Of course, that only applies to this particular mind segment," the Modhri said.

I relaxed a little, then wondered if that had been the exact reaction the Modhri had been going for.

"You probably shouldn't take much longer to decide."

Would I sacrifice my own life, rather than permit the Modhri to take over the Quadrail and, by extension, the universe? Absolutely. But was that the choice that was on the table here?

Or could I actually trust the Modhri to keep his promise?

"Fine. I accept."

"Good choice." The Modhri smiled, then frowned. "I had forgotten. Our clothes - "

"What's wrong with our clothes?" Aside from the fact that mine obviously had not been fabricated to deal with these levels of cold.

"They'll get in the way."

I resisted a strong temptation to roll my eyes. If the Modhri was only pretending to be clueless, he was certainly laying it on rather thick.

If he genuinely didn't know, that rather begged the question of how he had come up with this idea in the first place. "We take them off. They can serve as blankets," I explained.

Blankets. Well. Proverbially, at least from Fayr's point of view, I was already 'sleeping with the enemy' by undertaking this joint investigation. No big thing to also do so literally - even if I wasn't sure either of us would actually be able to sleep under these circumstances. I very much doubted I would, at any rate.

The Modhri checking out and leaving me with a very confused naked Bellido did not sound like a very attractive notion, either.

"I see," the Modhri said. "Yes. That seems practical."

It wasn't ideal, but some minutes later, I was warmer than I had been for the past six hours - or possibly the past two days, which counted as a definite positive in my book.

"I suppose the close physical contact is also why this serves as an excuse for people to have sexual relations with one another," the Modhri said.

"Excuse me?" True, it hadn't been that long since I'd drawn the comparison to a B dit rec myself.

I hardly imagined the Modhri to spend his spare time visiting dit rec buildings, though, let alone watch the sort of dit recs populated by characters looking for an excuse to get up, close and personal with someone.

"When I was unable to come up with any obvious solution to the problem of your imminent death myself, I consulted with this Bellido," the Modhri explained.

I noted that while the Modhri knew the name of his host as well as I did, he had chosen not to use it.

"And he suggested getting naked?" Granted, it had worked.

"He appears to find humans attractive. Naturally, as I am currently in control of his body, I am suppressing any physical reactions he might otherwise experience due to our close contact."

"Right." It seemed best not to think about that statement too much.

"Would you prefer for me not to?"

Some humans found Bellidos attractive. Others preferred Halkas, or Cimmaheem. It was hard to imagine any human being attracted to a Pirk, but who knew? Smelling nice wasn't everything. Perhaps they simply wore nose plugs when approaching the objects of their fascination, or perhaps they stuck to dit recs.

My own preferences usually took a backseat to my job. I was perfectly happy to leave it that way.

"That's fine," I said. "Unless the effort's getting to be too much for you?" I wasn't sure how the knowledge that a walker who got sexually excited was harder to keep under control would be useful, but it never hurt to pick up these nuggets of information.

"Not at all," the Modhri assured me. Too quickly, perhaps?

"Glad to hear it." I was, I realized, quite comfortable. Much more comfortable than I'd expected.

"Although I confess to a certain curiosity," the Modhri went on.

If you were a sentient colony of polyps, your sexual experience was probably rather limited.

Not my problem, I assured myself. None of my business, either. If anything, I should be glad to hear that whatever other actions the Modhri made his walkers perform, sex wasn't one of them.

Not that they needed to, in order to infect others, of course.

"Is it really such a rewarding experience?" the Modhri asked.

"For some people, it is," I said, a bit wary. "Others tend not to think about it much."

"Which category do you belong to?"

"You know that already," I said. Since I'd started my current job, I'd been careful to steer clear of any relationships that might leave me vulnerable to thought viruses.

"I know your choice," the Modhri countered. "I don't know your actual inclination."

"I'm happy with my life as it is." And I was, I assured myself.

Besides, even if I might occasionally wish for a friend or even a lover, there was no reason to reveal that to the Modhri. Currently, we might be allies, but we were a far cry from friends, and we would certainly never be lovers.

Scratchiness and a desire to rule the universe were not a qualities I looked for in potential lovers.

"It could be a one-time thing," the Modhri pressed. "No strings."

"And nobody would ever need to know?" I chuckled and shook my head. "Nice try, but no thanks."

"You could tell people, if you wanted. Although I suppose that it might cause some of them to distrust you." The Modhri sounded pensive. "Still, your bosses already know that we are working together."

"There's a big difference between us working together and us having sex."

Belldic bodies differed from human ones on several levels, but not so much that it took a three-hour course and a handbook to figure out how to get intimate with one.

True to the Modhri's word, the furry body pressed to mine was not displaying any clear signs of arousal.

Not that it would have made any difference if it had. Even as a one-time, no-strings-attached sort of thing (assuming that was even an option), it would be far more trouble than it was worth.

The Modhri was still my enemy. Giving in to whatever inclinations I might have in this regard would only leave me more vulnerable to his plots in the future.

"You chose to do the first," the Modhri said. "Have I given you any cause to regret that choice?"

"I chose to do the first," I agreed. "I think it's a little too early to talk about regrets."

"I see. You still do not trust me." The Modhri sounded slightly hurt.

"You could think of it as me not trusting myself, if you want," I offered.

"I fail to see the difference."

"It's not you, it's me." Except, of course, that it very much _was_ the Modhri. Still, no need to make this unpleasant. By my estimations, it would still be at least another hour before we might hope for Fayr to show up. "Why this sudden interest in getting in my pants, anyway?"

"It is you," the Modhri said. "But it is also me."

A little cryptic, to say the least. Still, I could work with it. "Fine. I'll play along. What guarantee do I have that you're not going to use this against me in the future?"

It occurred to me that I had just admitted to a certain degree of interest, which might have been a tactical error. Still, I could back out at any moment. Whatever else the Modhri might be, he would hardly risk our current alliance over something like this. If I said 'no', he would have no choice but to accept that.

"Easy," the Modhri replied. "The same guarantee _I_ have that _you_ won't."

"You're a mind segment," I reminded him. "Our positions are a bit different."

The Modhri sighed. "If you're going to refuse, why do you insist on dragging this out? Simply state your lack of interest and be done with it. Playing these games is beneath you, Compton."

Well. He got points for knowing which buttons to push, at least.

"And trying to gain the upper hand by seducing me is beneath you, Modhri," I said. "That doesn't seem to be stopping you, though, does it?"

"Trust me, if I were to attempt to seduce you, I would succeed," the Modhri said. "I know your type, after all. Humans are not that complicated."

I wasn't sure Penny counted as a 'seduction', but, on the other hand, I _had_ been fooled into believing that her feelings for me were sincere. For a while, anyway. "Perhaps."

"Let's cut to the chase. Do you wish to pursue this mutual interest? Your only permissible answers are yes and no," the Modhri added.

I wondered how he imagined he might enforce that demand. On the other hand, he did have a point. There was no use in continuing to talk about this. The truth was, quite simply, that I did not, could not trust him any more than he could (or probably did) trust me. We both had too much to lose.

Both of us. Not just me. The Modhri knew me, after all - not as well as he claimed, maybe, but well enough to respect me as an enemy. He knew what I was capable of.

"Do you?" I asked.

Belldic mouths did not lend themselves well to hissing, but the Modhri gave it a go. "Yes!"

"In that case, sure. Why not?" I shrugged. "It will give us something to do while we're waiting."

"Compton. I swear that I really will kill you one day."

I was tempted to reply that he'd be hard-pressed to pull that off if I destroyed him first, but I decided to forgo stating the obvious. 

Besides, I was reasonably sure that he'd been joking.


End file.
